A Picture's Worth
by twilight guardian
Summary: Nathaniel volunteers to help snap photos of damage done to the gym during last period. Becoming trapped in a locker room, he comes face to face with a classmate he feels uncomfortable around. An event that might change his perspective on their odd relationship. AU with powers and rated T for mild sexual themes. One-shot.


Welcome and thank you for choosing to read my fanfic. As I said in the description, this takes place in an AU world featuring powers. Half the population has powers of some sort or another. This is because it is based on a game my friends and I played together. Currently, I have two stories featuring Lina and Nathaniel. I may write more in the future further revealing their relationship. I would greatly appreciate reviews for this story. If you feel there are aspects that could be improved upon, or just to say that you liked it. Feedback is wonderful! Enjoy.

A Picture's Worth  
My Candy Love (ChiNoMiko)  
Nathaniel (ChiNoMiko)

* * *

_His love isn't blind, it's just stumbling in the dark..._  
_And like a photograph, love develops in darkness._

School was over for the day, thank goodness. Sweet Amoris had been a little hectic what with all the late students needing attention, exams coming up soon, a few tests that needed to be studied for, and unfortunately there had been an issue last period gym where a few students were horsing around, causing some structural damage to the school. The meeting with the kids, their parents and the faculty to discuss proper punishments and school repairs was long and arduous. Nathaniel Kincade tried his best to diligently take record, preferring to keep his personal opinions or suggestions on the matter to himself lest he heard something that refused to let him stay quiet. Usually this was in the boys' defence. The meeting lasted a total of two hours, and finally, Nathaniel Kincade was off to assess the damage to send in a report that would ultimately determine the total cost.

Normally a task such as this would be done by a faculty member: Principal Hathaway or someone like Sal, but he volunteered to help. He stepped out of the building and into the courtyard out back. The sun was still shining brightly in the sky, though from the Earth's rotation was slowly creeping toward the tops of the treeline, casting a warm glow.

The courtyard by now was long since completely devoid of any lingering students who might have stayed to chat to each other; either just to do so or while waiting for a ride to come and retrieve them. It was empty and wide, filled with a blissful silence. The concrete was clean of garbage and graffiti for once, a perfect square abruptly stopping to make way for a smaller rectangle of grass on the far end from the school. There a beautiful ash tree stood, branches filled with puffy leaves that were in the midst of changing to a brilliant shade of yellow and two benches in front. The yard was sectioned off from the houses and apartment building by a high concrete wall, an old cracking barrier, the bushes to the far end hiding up the lack of maintenance much worse on that end. Maybe after he was done he would take some time to just sit under the tree, maybe take a novel from the library and start reading.

Opening the door to the gym, he looked around for the damage. Thankfully there was no damage to the large windows to the left that brought in the gym's natural lighting, or the beams that separated them. Toward the storage area where all of the equipment was kept was also mostly undamaged, the soccer net looking a little worse for wear, but the basketball hoop was spared. The smaller windows along the far wall were also undamaged with the exception of a crack in the very last one. It was to the right where all the action seemingly took place. The bleachers had been moved out of the way, one so far as to have been pushed several meters from the wall in a slant. He saw the large dent in the wall close to the change rooms, the polyurethane foam padding was completely destroyed, the plywood backing snapped in several places, and even driven in to the drywall and brick behind. Another where the bricks were falling out not far away from the proceeding one, and finally the hole between the bleachers, looking just as mangled and pathetic as the first hole.

The damage was a bit more excessive than he first imagined. Frowning, he took out a pen and a notepad that he stuffed in his pockets and started to scribble down any information that he could. There was a camera hanging by it's strap around his neck.

It was a Canon EOS 60D with a 18-135 lens. He heard it was a good camera to get the small details clearly, which was why they had given it to him. Holding it up, he fiddled with the settings before shooting a few pictures of the damage. As he walked along the sides, snapping up the individual spots of damage from multiple angles he noticed through the top corner of the lens something rather odd.

Scuff marks? No, they were gouges in the wood floor. They seemed to be pointing toward the equipment room. Raising an eyebrow, he wandered toward the nearest one, bending down to one knee and inspecting it. He traced the gash with his fingers, a light powder mixture of wood and something white sticking to his finger.

"Hmm..." He scooted away, still on his knee before aiming the camera and snapping a picture of the marks as well. He couldn't be sure if they were from the fight, but they still could have been.

He tried to trace the fight in his mind. Not sure where the starting point was exactly, he tried to fit in all the pieces together. Not once in any of his scenarios did the scuff marks come in for the fight. This puzzled Nathaniel, and he wondered if the marks hadn't been there previously. He didn't take gym class this semester, so there was no way he could be sure how long they had been there. They seemed like they were fresh, though. Following them, they did lead all the way to the equipment room.

Testing the door, he only confirmed his suspicion that it was locked. His curiosity let the question of what it was that connected the room to the scuffle might have been. Taking a look in there might have shed some light. He'd have to ask Ms. Quinlan for the keys later, if she hadn't already left for the day.

There were still a couple of pictures that he needed to take of the thick of the fight damage. Getting an angle further away would be a good idea to show the extent of it. He walked somewhat sideways as he pointed the camera toward the right wall of the gym, waiting to see the perfect shot to get as much of it as possible. One more step and he thought he could get it all, and maybe a step back.

Something felt soft and malleable under his foot. Instantly he felt the sensation of falling despite his feet being firmly planted on the floor. Slightly disoriented, he dropped the camera, the bulk of it smacking against his chest. He winced more for the safety of the camera than for the tiny ache where the heavy machinery hit.

What happened? Looking around, he saw many long lockers, wooden benches in the space between. The floor was no longer wood, but a cold concrete with splashes of tile to his far right. He was in the shower room.

So this could confirm that Justin had been in the fight as well. Justin Brown being someone who could teleport himself and others, the reality warping leaving a trace that could still be tripped hours after the initial action. Or at least that's what he heard the teen brag once. It seemed he spoke the truth.

Still, there was more evidences of damage in here, as well. A locker door was heavily bent in, and there was a good chunk taken out of one of the benches. He snapped a picture of each that he found, taking great care in making sure the photographs would come out clear.

His attention shifted to his left and he turned, having seen something move out of the corner of his eye. Frowning when he saw nothing there, he wondered if his mind was playing tricks on him. Shaking his head and rubbing his eyes with his fingers, he turned back to his work.

There was little more damage than in the place where he saw, initially. Most likely Justin had teleported him and the other two boys into the locker room area and then almost immediately shifted them back out. Where the second trigger point was, he couldn't quite say. Catching the first one had been a stroke of luck.

If they teleported in and out so quickly then the leaving mark had to be close to the first one. He would just have to wander around until he found it. The change room was locked from the outside, and there was no way of getting out otherwise. He wasn't too concerned that he wouldn't find it, only hoping that he did before the ports faded or he would be stuck the entire night. Wouldn't that be fun.

His attention caught to his left when he heard the sound of running water. A shower had been turned on. Shortly after, a few moments, muffled music joined the steady rhythmic chorus of the shower, loud and eventually engulfing the water almost entirely.

The music filled the change room, echoing off the walls. _Who could possibly be in here at this time of night? _Nathaniel thought to himself, slightly agitated. Other than himself, of course. He had a reason for being in the locked room.

Nathaniel tried to reason with himself what someone could possibly be doing in the showers. The only logical conclusion would be that it was a teacher who used the gym for a work out, or perhaps a sports club member that stayed behind and with permission from the school could lock up when done. Usually all after school activities finished long ago.

Walking slowly toward the shower, he debated on whether or not he should let his curiosity get the best of him. Was it really any of his business who was using the showers that he would bother them during this time? Couldn't he just leave if the person was here? This meant that the door was unlocked and he could escape without worry, right?

Turning his heel, he walked swiftly toward the front of the change room, his hand stretching out toward the bar on the door. He pushed. The door didn't budge. Peering through the crack, he could see the bolt was in it's proper place for a locked door. He could have swore under his breath as he turned back to face the rest of the room. If the door was locked, then how did this person get in or out? Surely they hadn't been foolish enough to get themselves locked in here. The only option that he had now was to confront this person and demand an explanation and a means to get out.

It was iffy if the second trigger was already gone or not. He couldn't rely on that as a sure means of his escape. The music got louder the longer he walked. Stepping into the shower area of the room now, he smelled the strongly wafting scent of strawberries and the heat of the hot water in the hazy steam being produced.

Nathaniel hesitated in mid step, slowly putting his foot down on the tiles and walking significantly slower from then on. He had a bad feeling about this all of a sudden. He unfortunately couldn't tell what exactly said bad feeling meant. He considered holding back until they were done with their shower, clothed and about ready to leave. An odd thought crossed his mind.

What if this person knew another means of escape? Perhaps the exit he was seeking was in the shower section and by waiting outside in the locker area he would miss the person completely and be none the wiser? If that were the case then perhaps he could find a way out on his own. If it was while the person was still in the shower, then that would be best.

He walked along the occupied shower isle, spotting a pile of clothes sitting on a bench. Walking closer, his curiosity getting the best of him, he slowly started to dread who the clothes belonged to. Not any individual person, no, but a woman. Justin hadn't teleported the three of them - and subsequently Nathaniel - into the boy's locker room, but the girl's. The person in the shower was female.

Now he really wanted to retreat. The situation was uncomfortable as it was without having the unfortunate implications of the Student Body President being locked in the girl's locker room with a girl. If a word of this got out to the general public at Sweet Amoris, he was sure that his existence for a time would be almost unbearable, even with an explanation as to why he had been there.

He looked down at the clothes, mostly piled in a lump than neatly folded. He actively tried to ignore the panties still in the masculine jeans. The shabby-chic goth style was something he was familiar with.

Oh crap, he knew who the girl was. Lina Sternberk.

He didn't know why, but he turned to look at her. Of course, he wasn't seeing her, specifically. It was just her silhouette from the shower curtain. The metal song that was playing had ended. Her iPod was hooked up to some speakers just on top of her clothes and switched to a rather upbeat pop song. He watched as she twisted and danced in place to the music as she scrubbed at her long hair, bunched up on her skull with a few strands dangling. A faint voice unlike the women in the band meant that Lina was singing, too. Nathaniel couldn't help but watch as her curvy body slithered back and forth as she danced, lathering and rinsing her hair.

Her clothes betrayed her, at times. She had round hips and a small waist. She was a lot more filled out than her style of choice would lead someone to believe. That is, unless she wore something that deliberately showed off parts of her curves. But that always was kept rather modest. This was entirely different.

She started washing her legs, placing her foot on the soap holder and bent over to lather her leg up to shave. Realizing what he was doing, Nathaniel cupped a hand over his mouth and turned around. He could feel his face burning hot.

He couldn't believe himself. He had been staring at Lina. In the shower. Naked. Staring at her body through the curtain. What was wrong with him? Not only was that incredibly rude and disrespectful but it was Lina Sternberk. He didn't like having much to do with this girl at all, but lately she seemed to have been intruding rather aggressively into his life. No matter where he turned she was always there. He hated it, and yet...

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to get the image of Lina's silhouette out of his mind. He refused to think of her like that. She wasn't his type at all, and what's more, despite her constant intrusions and his willingness to deal with her on more friendly terms it did not mean that it was suddenly okay for him to do this sort of thing. Even if it was any other girl in school. Damn hormones.

That's all he could really think could be the reason. He was a teenager, after all. He still got urges like everyone else, but he never let them get the best of him and was usually diligent about not doing something inappropriate. This could be counted as inappropriate, however.

His inner ramblings made him lose track of the time. He didn't realize that he had been standing there, turned away from the showers and mentally berating himself until he heard the water flow cease. Inside, Nathaniel panicked. Turning around, he saw Lina casually ringing her long hair out and reached for the curtains, lifting a leg to step out.

His mind was blank as he wondered what he should do. He couldn't hide or leave the room. She would see him before he could get out of sight. Seeing her towel beside her clothes he snatched it greedily and let it fall open, fumbling with it a bit until he held it in front of him, spread wide open.

Lina stepped out of the shower, jumping and letting out a loud gasp when she saw that someone was in the building with her. To Nathaniel's eyes, her body was hidden by the towel apart from her head, shoulders and half of her cleavage. He turned red as he turned his head away from her.

He felt his the towel get torn out of his grasp. He didn't look back until he heard the curtain close. Lina was wrapping the towel around her waist of all things! Shouldn't she be wrapping it around her chest?

Her long hair began to shorten. His amber eyes widened. She wasn't seriously shifting, was she? He braced himself, wondering what kind of animal would come storming through the curtains. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, his eyes following her hand, wondering why it wasn't changing as she reached for the curtains.

She pulled them back, and what Nathaniel saw... was human. More specifically, male. Short blonde hair, dripping wet and plastered to her face, which was more masculine and angular, broad shoulders and a thin torso with no significant muscle. What she had changed into was him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Lina asked, glaring at him. At least she kept her own voice, but Nathaniel wasn't sure if he was comforted by that or was more unnerved that her voice was coming from his mouth.

"I uh... could say the same thing of you." Nathaniel said. "How did you get in here when the door is locked?" Lina gestured to an open window just short of touching the ceiling.

"I leave it open so that I can crawl in." Nathaniel sighed, now this was opening a whole new set of questions. But first...

"When... when did you get that morph of me?" Lina smirked, playing with the towel, loosening the knot before slipping it up to her chest. His hair on her darkened back to her normal red colour and slowly lengthened. Her features became more feminine and she shrunk shorter to her normal height. The morph was rather short seeing as she was going back from human to human.

"When you kissed me." She said in a low, almost shy voice that sounded so uncharacteristic of her. Nathaniel averted his gaze. Right. Of course it had to be from that. He didn't want to get into that right now.

"So you come in to the showers and use them without permission? Why?" Lina placed her hands on her hips.

"Is this Interrogate Lina While She's In A Towel Hour or something? I come to the school after hours to work out. I didn't think that it was that big of a deal." Nathaniel turned around again as Lina made a move for her clothes. "What about you, Sunshine? How'd you get yourself in here?"

"The fight in last period gym. Justin teleported and left markers. I stepped on one and ended up here. They're probably gone now, though."

"I'm decent." Nathaniel turned around.

"What reason do you have to work out after school in secret like this?" Lina went silent, this time it was her turn to avoid his gaze. "What is it?"

"I don't want you to get the wrong impression. But I'm trying to lose weight."

Nathaniel reeled a bit. What could Lina possibly need to lose weight for? He saw it himself, her body looked perfect - perfectly healthy, that was. He shouldn't be trying to give himself the wrong impression. "Why do you think you need to lose weight, Lina? That could potentially be dangerous."

"It's not. Just an inch or two. I need to fit into some outfits." She said casually.

"What kind of outfits?" Nathaniel asked. Lina sighed loudly, her cheeks flushing.

"Look, my brother is in med school. He holds two part time jobs, but he also does some modelling on the side. Med school is expensive and he doesn't want to be that heavily in debt with his loans, so any money that he makes that he doesn't live off of mostly goes either into savings or goes to pay off student loans. The photographer is kind of taken with me and sometimes gets inspiration for a second... model. He pays both of us, so I can help my brother by giving him some extra money, right?"

She seemed embarrassed by the whole thing. Nathaniel wasn't sure what to make of it, but his shoulders sagged with the release of his sigh and he realized he was smiling.

"It's admirable of you, Lina. But I still don't think it's necessary for you to lose weight. You're perfectly fine the way you are." An image of Lina's silhouette danced at the forefront of his mind. He tried to push it aside before a stupid look of one sort or another could stick to his face. But from what he could see of her through the curtains and when she was just in the towel she at least looked to be of a healthy weight, even on the skinny side, a bit.

Lina shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Thanks. But the outfits that he wants me to wear for the shoots are a little small on me. He won't have me model if I can't fit into them so losing some weight has to be done. Plus getting some muscle mass wouldn't hurt, either."

He nodded, understanding her reasons, but still thinking her losing weight was unnecessary. Still, it was admirable that she would do that for her brother. "Are those your scratch marks on the gym floor, then?"

"Y-yeah. Bear, sorry. I couldn't push some of the heavier equipment otherwise." She said, giving a sheepish grin. At least she was cleaning up after herself. He had to wonder just how much she was pushing herself. Lately he noticed that she had been falling asleep in class and looked more haggard than usual. Her normal sarcastic attitude had been diluted. Now he knew why. It was also possible she wasn't getting enough energy throughout the day, and it all went into her efforts. Not losing any more weight would help with her energy levels, but she seemed determined to make the dresses fit for her brother.

"How long have you been doing this for?"

"Two weeks. Actually, today I was going to try on one of the outfits. Care to help me?"

"With what? Getting dressed?" He asked, startled. Lina rolled her eyes.

"Well, yeah. I can't zip it up all the way." Ah, right. Some dresses were hard to zip up. When he and Amber were younger he often help with the zippers on her dresses. Lina gathered her things and left the shower room. Nathaniel stayed behind to give her privacy to change. It was only when she called him over that he moved.

She was wearing a light summer pink dress. It had a band right under her bust, an emphasis that seemed popular in many styles these days. The sleeves came off the side of the dress and curled around her arm more for aesthetics than actual use, or keeping the dress up. The skirt of the dress was very breezy, falling just past her knees. She smiled at him, brushing her hair lazily over her bare shoulder, turning so that her back was facing him. The zipper was only halfway up.

"I think I caught it on something. Sorry." He closed the gap between them, hesitating slightly before resting his hands on the small of her back. He could feel Lina jump slightly at his touch. The tiny zipper wasn't that difficult to grasp, but being caught on the fabric it slipped from his fingers easily unless he squeezed hard. Eventually he backed the zipper up, trailing it all the way down her back.

Her skin was milky white and her back was smooth. Concentrating on the zipper, he slowly ran it up her back. He was careful to not get it caught again on the same piece of fabric, brushing it back into place, then continued to work it up to her upper back.

When he was finished he quickly stepped back. She let her hair fall and thanked him. There was a smile on her face as she tested the dress. She kept her head down, concentrating, checking if there were any problem areas. He just stared at her. She was actually kind of pretty in that dress.

"Want to take some pictures?" Lina asked. "You know, just for fun. I know Corte would love to have evidence of me willingly putting on a dress."

"Uh, well this camera belongs to the school." Nathaniel said. Lina shrugged.

"I have my own." She opened her locker and took out a camera bag. Taking out her camera, she turned it on and began to check it. Or tried to. "Aw. Looks like the batteries have died. But I have a roll of film here. That is, if you don't mind if we use yours."

Nathaniel thought for a moment. Sure, he could take the roll with the damage evidences out and replace it with a fresh roll. This seemed to be something that Lina was enthusiastic about, too.

It took a solid fifteen minutes for him to take the roll out, finding that he had already used up all twenty four shots, and replaced it with the fresh roll that Lina had given him. Grabbing her things, Lina climbed up to the window, dropping her things before crawling out herself. Once again, Nathaniel held back, not wanting to accidentally catch a view of something he knew he shouldn't, but for some reason wanted to.

He soon followed suit, finding it easier than Lina, having only the camera to look after instead of everything else. He saw on the other side of the window that she had a small ladder in which to climb down with. With difficulty, he managed to get himself righted and landed a foot at the top. Lina held the ladder in place for him.

The next half an hour was spent with Lina either picking poses or Nathaniel directing her, and then him snapping up photographs. He was unsure about it at first, but as time passed, he realized he was enjoying himself. The sunset was in full swing now, giving off a beautiful orange and pink glow to everything. Nathaniel checked the camera.

"There's one shot left." He said finally. "What do you want to do?"

Lina walked over, looking down at the camera. "I have an idea. May I?" Nathaniel nodded as she took the camera. She quickly grabbed his arm, wrapping it around her and pecked him on the cheek as she snapped the final shot.

Startled, blushing, and feeling a little confounded and flustered, he held his hand out when she gave the camera back to him. "I have to go. See you tomorrow. Oh! You can develop those, right? Please? I promise I'll pay you. Thanks!" And with that, she packed her things up and half-skipped half-jogged out of the courtyard. He stood there for a few moments, finally letting out a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. Damn that girl...

Nathaniel had already called home and told his parents that he was going to still be a while. He would call when he was finished. He was in the red room now, following instructions the teacher left him on the table and meticulously following them as he worked to develop both sets of pictures. He was trying everything he could not to think about the kiss. He wouldn't allow himself to do that. Nope. Yet, it was still burned in his memory as much as he could still feel her lips burning on his cheek.

Putting the pictures on the clothes rack, he sighed again, wondering why she had done that. Their relationship was no where near that level, even if he knew that she sometimes acted that way around her friends. Maybe she was just bugging him. Wanted to get a rile out of him before she left. It had taken such a short time to do, he doubted the picture even turned out that well.

Slowly, the pictures were coming out. He watched as the first roll showed clearly all of the damage that had been done to the gym. Thanking his steady hands, he moved to the second roll. The pictures of Lina he took were turning out beautifully. Soon, the room was filled with pictures of small craters and a beautiful redhead. He stared at the pictures, eventually realizing he had a smile on his face.

To his surprise, the very last picture that he produced turned out clear. He stared at the picture, Lina's arm foreshortened as it disappeared out of view to go behind the camera, soft rosy lips pressed against his cheek, bright blue eyes twinkling playfully at the camera, he with wide eyes and a flabbergasted look on his face. His expression softened as he looked at the photograph.

It was a deceptive picture. They looked like a couple; a happy one that were making funny faces and stuff into the camera. However, his relationship with Lina was far from that. Unfortunately.

If anything, she never bored him.


End file.
